Working Document Series

This report provides an updated overview of research and development (R&D) offshoring, focusing on the key drivers and challenges for the MNCs involved. The report identifies the following main drivers for the observed increase in R&D offshoring to emerging economies: (i) cost considerations;(ii) the effective adaptation of products to local markets; (iii) the search for talent and new ideas; and (iv) the aspiration to tap into local systems of innovation. The main challenges of R&D offshoring the report identifies are: (i) cultural and organisational differences; (ii) how to manage globally dispersed R&D activities; and (iii) how to protect intellectual property rights.

Innovation in mitigation technologies is seen as a key contributor to achieving the ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals of countries outlined in the Paris Agreement. Research collaboration on mitigation technology and innovation between developed and developing countries offers the opportunity for trust building, knowledge sharing and allows all parties to influence the decision-making process of technology development. This report aims at selecting collaboration initiatives from governments, industries and regions, each with different characteristics, in order to identify criteria for effective collaborations between the European Union and emerging countries.

This working document highlights the interactions between energy efficiency policies at the federal and provincial government levels in Austria. The effectiveness of the new and current policies is difficult to ascertain, but the case study concludes that overlaps between different government subsidies imply that government funds are used inefficiently. The working paper concludes that a new target-oriented policy mix that is not entirely based on subsidies, but enables a combination with energy or environmental standards is a way to avoid these overlaps.

The CARISMA case study analysis on energy and climate policy interactions addresses: policy interactions between different policy levels, interactions between short and long term policies, and interactions that occur if stakeholders are indirectly affected by a policy instrument.

The EU has opted to integrate climate and energy policies. The over-achievement of the renewable energy target meant that the power sector reduced the demand for EU ETS allowances (EUAs). This Working Document discusses conditions for reducing such negative policy interactions.

Information on policies mitigating climate change, which could meet key information needs in a post-Paris world, is increasingly available in online databases. However, the available information suffers from several shortcomings, which are discussed in this Working Document.

* Working Documents are not formal deliverables of CARISMA, but highlight preliminary findings of the project for the purpose of discussion. Working Documents are not as extensively reviewed as formal project deliverables.